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January 2 - Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy (28 wives).

January 12 - Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years.

February 20 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art closes for "urban renovation".

March 1 - Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's 1st national park

March 5 - George Westinghouse patents the air brake.

March 5 - The case of Tichborne Claimant decided against the claimant Arthur Orton

March 11 - Work began erecting Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales; Located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

March 26 - Earthquake at Lone Pine, California with an estimated magnitude of 7.2 .

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May 10 - Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States, although she is a year too young to qualify and does not appear on the ballot.

May 22 - Reconstruction: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.

June 14 - Trade unions legalised in Canada.*

July 4 - Society of Jesus is pronounced Illegal in German Empire

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September 1 - Group of Icaiche Maya under Marcos Canul attack Orange Walk Town in British Honduras. British send troops against them

November 5 - Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horace Greeley in the U.S. presidential election

November 5 - Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time (on November 18 she was served an arrest warrant and in the subsequent trial she was fined $100 - she never paid the fine).

November 7 – Mary Celeste sets sail from New York, bound for Genoa

November 9 - Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, Massachusetts, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street (the two day event destroyed about 65 acres (0.3 km²) of city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and caused US$60 million in damage).

November 27 - Meteor rain display over France

November 29 - Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.

November 29 - Horace Greeley, President Grant's opponent in the United States presidential election, 1872, dies. His electoral votes are divided among several candidates.

November 30 - First ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland.

December 4 - The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged).

December 12 - A meteorite struck earth near Banbury, England.

December 21 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography

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Louis Ducos du Hauron creates the first color photograph.*

London Metropolitan Police strike.

In the aftermath of the War of the Triple Alliance, new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, grant reparations and territorial concessions

Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition

Foundation of the Kolozsvári Egyetem, the predecessor of the University of Szeged

US government geologist Clarence King reveals the diamond hoax in Wyoming

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January 6 - Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (d. 1915)

January 23 - Goce Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903)

January 31 - Zane Grey, American writer (d. 1939)

March 7 - Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter (d. 1944)

April 29 - Harry Payne Whitney, businessman, horse breeder (d. 1930)

May 18 - Bertrand Russell, English philosopher and mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1970)

May 31 - Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator (d. 1944)

June 20 - George Carpenter, the 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948)

June 27 - Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet and publisher (d. 1906)

July 1 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (d. 1936)

July 4 - Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States (d. 1933)

July 16 - Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer (d. 1928)

August 3 - King Haakon VII of Norway (d. 1957)

August 9 - Archduke Joseph August of Austria, Austrian field marshal (d. 1962)

August 10 - Bill Johnson, American jazz musician (d. 1972)

August 13 - Richard Willstätter, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942)

August 15 - Sri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, writer, and mystic (d. 1950)

August 21 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (d. 1898)

October 11 - Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)

November 30 - John McCrae, Canadian soldier and poet (d. 1918)

December 21 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)

December 24 - Benjamin Rockaway, writer (d. 1897)

December 26 - Norman Angell, British politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1967)

Charles Greely Abbot, American astrophysicist (d. 1973)

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January 7 - Big Jim Fisk, American financier (b. 1834)

January 21 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791)

March 20 - William Charles Wentworth, Australian explorer (b. 1790)

April 1 - Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)

April 2 - Samuel Morse, American inventor (b. 1791)

June 4 - Stanisław Moniuszko, Polish composer (b. 1819)

June 4 - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician (b. 1798)

June 20 - Elie Frédéric Forey, Marshal of France (b. 1804)

July 18 - Benito Juárez, President of Mexico (b. 1806)

August 19 - Charles XV, King of Sweden and Norway (b. 1826)

September 10 - Avram Iancu, Romanian Transylvanian insurgent (b. 1824)

September 13 - Ludwig Feuerbach, German philosopher (b. 1804)

October 23 - Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)

November 28 - Mary Somerville, British mathematician (b. 1780)

November 29 - Horace Greeley, newspaper editor and presidential candidate (b. 1811)

December 15 - Lady Beaconsfield, wife of Benjamin Disraeli (b. 1792)